HIbakusha: Another reason Japan's approach to nukes concerns me

[ChicagoRonin]

So, do you think after Fukushima is said and done, Japan will enter a period of self-reflection on nuclear energy, or just attempt to forget about it?

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From Wikipedia:

"The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called hibakusha (被爆者?),"

"Discrimination

Hibakusha and their children were (and still are) victims of severe discrimination due to lack of knowledge about the consequences of radiation sickness, which people believed to be hereditary or even contagious.<12>

Studs Terkel's book The Good War includes a conversation with two hibakusha. The postscript observes:

There is considerable discrimination in Japan against the hibakusha. It is frequently extended toward their children as well: socially as well as economically. "Not only hibakusha, but their children, are refused employment," says Mr. Kito. "There are many among them who do not want it known that they are hibakusha."
—Studs Terkel (1984), The Good War.<13>

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization (日本被団協, Nihon Hidankyō?) is a group formed by hibakusha in 1956 with the goals of pressuring the Japanese government to improve support of the victims and lobbying governments for the abolition of nuclear weapons.<14>"

[Bonobo]

1. This is sort of like wondering if Americans will start enslaving black people again. nt

[Wilms]

2. Here's the wiki link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibakusha

[IsItJustMe]

3. Not only Japans attitude bothers me about this issue, but the attitudes in our own country bothers

me as well.

You have Obama, with strong support of the Republicans, who wants to build 20 more nuclear power plants in this country.

Never mind the fact that some of the plants we already have are on or near earth quake fault lines, and never mind the fact that an air plane flown into one of these things could cause a living hell on earth.

But good luck with your post, it seems like there is much apathy and lack of reflection here, as in much of our country, regarding this critical matter subject that I am absolutley sure, that hundreds of thousands of Japaneese are now serioulsy dealing with.

I guess it takes a catastrophy to wake people up, and even then, many times they still sleep.